quick change

Have been seeing these little Quick Change Trousers by Anna Maria Horner online for quite a while and having bought her book months ago it has done nothing but gather dust. Not that it doesn't look good. It does, just..... tricky. I am so not used to pulling out a pattern, tracing it, cutting the pattern out, pinning it to fabric and then cutting out the fabric all before actually sewing! Phew. My sewing projects are more like this. Or this. Where I have an idea, think of what fabric I have on hand and then as quick as can be I make it.



These trousers had as much preparation beforehand as was spent sewing. I found the first pair really hard going for this reason. And at one point I had to just sit and stare at the instructions for about ten minutes..... just lost. And then I made a pair. And they look good! They are very sweet and I LOVE how every seam and thread and snip is all hidden away. It's like you really do make two pairs of trousers almost and by magic they turn into one reversible pair.



Oh, and all of the fabric here in these two pairs are made from old shirts of my dh's, old PJ legs of my dh's and one scrap of left over apple green print from a long ago project. Cost was nil. I really like that about a sewing project. For sure I would have loved to splurge on the delicious flannel range from one of Anna Marie Horner's collections, but that would have defeated the frugality of the whole thing (which felt important to me for some reason today). I like making things from what I have on hand.



I have no idea if I will make anything else from her book. Possibly this was the easiest project in there (so unlikely). But it is still a lovely book to look at... and after the first pair of trousers I went to bed vowing not make another. Then first thing the next day I was back at my machine like an addict making another. The second pair was whipped up in about an hour because it was all still in my head. So who knows, maybe I'll feel inspired again. I made the 3-6 months size. Although with a cloth nappy on I'd say they may not stretch to 6 months. They look a lot more like 4 months max to me.





Bump update: I am getting bigger by the day, hour and minute. I had my ferritin levels checked and they were at 5. This is seriously low (norms are 20-160). So I am taking even more iron stuff than I mentioned previously. And amazingly after only 2-3 days feel really good. My energy is high (er) and I just feeling like doing things again, and I can walk the dog and garden and hang out laundry without feeling like I need to sleep for four hours after each activity. So I'd say the supplements are kicking in already. It has made me feel more optimistic than I was which is a nice booster. I was seriously feeling terribly glum last week. Onwards and outwards though.

This was last week (are semi naked pictures suitable for a blog? I just don't know...) and I am sure I am at least another two inches bigger now.... with a huge baby head stuck under my ribs.....